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Lisa Cholodenko is an American screenwriter and director of films and TV shows. She is known for High Art, Laurel Canyon, The Kids Are All Right, Olive Kitteridge, and Unbelievable.
Lisa Cholodenko is an American filmmaker who has directed and written movies such as The Kids Are All Right, High Art, and Laurel Canyon. She has also worked on TV shows such as Olive Kitteridge, Unbelievable, and The Slap.
- January 1, 1
- 38 sec
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Lisa Cholodenko is an American director and screenwriter who made award-winning films such as High Art (1998) and The Kids Are All Right (2010). She is also the mother of a son by a sperm donor with her partner Wendy Melvoin.
- June 5, 1964
- Ordinary People
- My Brilliant Friend
- My Own Private Idaho
- David Lean Films
- The Godfather
- Sweetie
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The 1980 family drama represents what Cholodenko loves about movies. “That was a big one for me. That showed me you can really say some stuffabout people’s weird psychologies,” she says. “Here was a parent [breaking] that myth of unconditional love. I found it comforting! It felt like truth I hadn’t really seen out there, validated. I love the dang...
As Cholodenko has moved more into TV, she cites HBO’s Italian series adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novels as a new favorite. “It’s exquisite. It reminds me that there’s still hope out there to make stuff that’s really layered and restrained. I wouldn’t say that inspired Unbelievable, but those kinds of shows, that kind of filmmaking, really inspir...
Gus Van Sant’s 1991 queer classic arrived as Cholodenko was just coming up. It galvanized her: “It wasn’t my story, but I was really emboldened by somebody going, ‘I’m gay and I’m making a film about gay guys that are interesting to me.’ And it’s so sexy to look at. It’s provocative.”
Once resistant to Hollywood tropes, Cholodenko was introduced to Lean classics like Lawrence of Arabia later in life. “I remember being wowed by the [period], what he would do with the camera, the scope, that form of storytelling,” she says. “It opened up my mind in that way: the wowfactor.”
When it comes to literary adaptations (she won an Emmy for helming HBO’s Olive Kitteridge), Cholodenko’s mind goes straight to some of the greatest films ever made. “For some reason I've been thinking a lot about The Godfather,” she says. “It had a real purpose and a punch [similar] to Unbelievable, in terms of being a crime saga. The limited serie...
Cholodenko says Jane Campion’s 1989 drama is the film that made her want to direct. “I remember seeing that alone in my early 20s and thinking, ‘My God, this is such a powerful medium,’ ” she says. “I just was like, 'I'm a woman, and there's a woman, and I'm feeling myself in the camera, and she's saying things I'm not supposed to be saying.' It wa...
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Kids Are All Right and Unbelievable shares her cinematic inspirations, from Ordinary People to The Godfather. She talks about the power of truth-telling, queer representation, and the beauty of TV.
Director Lisa Cholodenko's real-life drama of having a baby as a gay woman inspired The Kids Are All Right, her most poignant film to date.
Jul 1, 2010 · The writer-director of the lesbian comedy-drama talks about her personal and creative process, casting choices, and the social climate for LGBT films. Read the interview with Lisa Cholodenko and learn more about her film and her views on the LGBT community.
Lisa Cholodenko (born June 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and director. Cholodenko wrote and directed the films High Art (1998), Laurel Canyon (2002), and The Kids Are All Right (2010). She has also directed television, including the miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014) and Unbelievable (2019).
